Misplaced outrage: abuse and the army

The remarks were stupid and it did not take long for the twittersphere to force an apology from Channel Ten morning show The Circle.

Hosts Yumi Stynes and George Negus joked about Australia's most recent Victoria Cross recipient, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, construed by some to be questioning his intelligence and virility.

Twitter and Facebook went into meltdown.

"Yumi Stynes and George Negus don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ben Roberts-Smith," said one person.

The comments were labelled pathetic, a disgrace.

Even opposition frontbencher Sussan Ley weighed in: "How dare you losers denigrate not just Cpl Roberts-Smith but everyone who wears the uniform of the ADF. You make me sick."

By the end of the day Channel Ten had apologised and Corporal Roberts-Smith had accepted.

Hours later the ABC's flagship current affairs program, 7.30, ran an investigation raising yet more serious questions about the attitudes towards women and people from ethnic backgrounds in the Australian Defence Force.

The piece, by reporter Hayden Cooper, revealed a private Facebook page used by past and present members of the Royal Australian Regiment, seven battalions crucial to the army.

The page contained hundreds of misogynist, racist and homophobic messages and images.

More than 1000 past and present soldiers use the site to which Cooper obtained access via a member who was concerned at the site's contents.

The page contained comments in which Muslims were referred to as "rag heads" who should be shot, that Australia was no place for immigrants, and, that "all women are filthy, lying whores".

The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, and the Chief of Army, Lieutenant-General David Morrison, both expressed their outrage at the page.

Mr Smith - who is already dealing with the fallout from the Skype sex scandal and a report detailing more than 1000 allegations of abuse within the ADF - said he had "zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour including inappropriate use of social media".

But the public reaction was muted – silent, even.

The story has received little follow up today.

There is little - if any - discussion of it on talkback radio or Twitter, unlike the reaction to the Roberts-Smith comments.

As I watched 7.30 last night I tweeted:

Great piece on #730report by @haydencooper on ADF culture. Nice if outrage to those concerns matched that on poor taste jokes on The Circle.

Great piece on #730report by @haydencooper on ADF culture. Nice if outrage to those concerns matched that on poor taste jokes on The Circle.

The comments that came back to me varied.

Everyone agreed Corporal Roberts-Smith had been unfairly maligned.

But they did not accept 7.30 raised anything that was particularly of concern.

Someone suggested that because it was a private Facebook site it did not have the same effect as a national chat show.

Another thought that the views of 1000 people could not be said to represent the whole ADF.

Yes, The Circle and 7.30 have very different audiences - one is broadcast in the morning on a commercial network while the other shows at night on the ABC.

But are they so different as to explain the responses to each show?

What does it say about us that - one week before International Women's Day - a stupid, off the cuff remark forces national outrage while further evidence of racism and sexism within the military does not?

Stephanie Peatling is The Sun-Herald's political correspondent. You can follow her on twitter @srpeatling

In 2012, Fairfax publications asserted in a number of articles that Yumi Stynes and George Negus had made derogatory comments regarding the sexual character of Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith and his use of IVF procedures. The discussion occurred on The Circle television chat show. Our interpretation was wrong and we accept that both Negus and Stynes were not referring to Corporal Roberts-Smith personally, but to strongly-built men generally. We apologise for the error.